Stormy Weather

Don't know why...there's no sun up in the sky...stormy weather...

Evidently there was a big storm last night. Russell and I didn't hear anything. I was even up just before 2am going to the bathroom and Russell said he was up at or around 2, but the only thing I noticed was lightening. The reason I found out there was a storm is because my mom called me this morning and told me they had a huge limb down. There were winds 40-60mph, maybe faster. A semi even got overturned west of Goddard on Kellogg. I can't believe we didn't hear a thing!

Here's what the damage looked like at their house.

Thankfully our fence is up. It's hot and sunny now that the storm has moved through. It's supposed to be 98 degrees today and we're supposed to have more storms tonight--a recipe for more severe weather.

Zoo with Cousins...Second Cousins!

Aunt Lola called this morning. She had all three of her grand kids and didn't want to sit at home. They were on their way to the Zoo and invited Charles and I to join them. I slathered on some make-up, packed a few snacks and drinks in the diaper bag, and headed out the door. Aunt Christy caught up with us later and then Stephanie and Carissa made it over in time to join us at the Zoo's "Plaza Beastro" the newly remodeled snack bar with an expanded menu. We had a great time with cousins and enjoyed lunch with everyone. It will be one of the last times we get to have fun with PJ and Brookelyn because they are moving to Orlando, Florida where their dad has a job teaching auto mechanics.



We're excited Paul has a job he loves but will miss having them in town for impromptu get togethers and family holiday activities. But...we know God is good and will take care of them all those miles away. He sure has made it clear that's the place He wants them...at least for now. Steph and the kids will be leaving in just a few weeks to join Paul who has been there since March. Sounds like they're in a good school district, have a nice rental, and (most importantly) are about 10 miles from both the airport and Disney World. They even have an extra bedroom (very important information for us visitors) and a fenced yard for their dog Kate.





Anyway...some pictures from our day at the zoo:

A security guard told Aunt Lola that this is the naughty giraffe that sneaks down into the ditch that separates the giraffes' exhibit from the visitors. It loves to eat things it shouldn't like branches and popcorn. It's a smart animal and knows not to beg for snacks when the security staff is in sight!

I've said before how the giraffe feeding station is my favorite spot at the Zoo. Lola had never been there when they were open, so of course we had to feed the giraffes. Brookelyn (pictured below) really enjoyed it and I don't think any of the younger kids were afraid.

Aunt Christy finally arrived. We met her at the front gate then headed to the Asian farm. Charles loved the sheep and goats. Here he is hugging an adorable baby sheep.

Aunt Lola with the grandchildren. From left to right: PJ (Paul IV), Brookelyn, Lola, and Elena. Before long there will be another one added to this group. PJ is excited to have another boy in the family!

After the Walls left Aunt Christy, Charles, and I did some more sightseeing. Charles wanted to sit with the orangutan.

As with many things, Charles had to give hugs and kisses to the monkey!

Cabin Fever

I've had cabin fever. I really don't have the energy to do much but also am tired of sitting at home all the time. With gas at $3.75 per gallon I try not to go out more than necessary. A few pictures from last week and what went on around here.

I was using the computer and wanted to keep Charles out of trouble and away from my mouse and keyboard. This is his "office" on our card table.

I wonder who he's talking to and the content of their conversation. He gets very excited and goes on for quite a while. I think he's learned from seeing me on the phone!

Now that Charles is in his "big boy" bed he's not contained. Thankfully he can't open his door...yet. One day last week--this day in fact--he met me at the front door when I came back from the mailbox. This is what I found upstairs in his room.

A short clip to give you a better view of the disaster!

I was perturbed I had to clean up the mess and Russell's reaction was different...he was upset we wasted all those wipes. Money just thrown away. Oh...and you probably couldn't tell, but it was an unopened package of wipes before Charles got a hold of them. The wipes are now stored on the top shelf of the closet! Thankfully he hasn't made any more messes and hasn't been able to open his bedroom door again.

I've been trying to turn off the TV. This is a challenge for me because I like it on for the company. And, I actually enjoy most of the PBS shows. Here's Charles dancing to something, I'm not sure what. He was really into my U2 "Joshua Tree" last week, but I can't remember what was playing when this dance party began. For all I know it could have been the Jeopardy song that plays during final Jeopardy! I just remembered! I think he's dancing to the Audio Adrenaline "Don't Censor Me" album's dance remix. Sort of has that techno beat!

Father's Day and Other Fun

Our Father's Day was uneventful, I wish we would've done something more exciting for Russ, but we couldn't come up with any ideas. Plus, by the time we'd been to church and had lunch Charles was past due for a nap. Actually all three of us got Sunday afternoon naps, which in my opinion is the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

The men on Father's Day. Grandpa's choice for lunch was Timberline.

We were there before noon and were surprised we had to wait for a table.

Friday was Russell's day off so we headed to the Cessna Employee's Club for a dip in the pool. Charles loves it! It is a "walk in" pool so it gradually gets deeper. Charles can wade until it suddenly slopes from 1 foot to 3 feet. He was disappointed that the Aquashroom was not working, he remembered we had been there for an open house on Sunday and that it had water running down the sides.

At the Employee's Club for the opening of the new pool.
Charles wasn't sure about the Aquashroom at first, but then loved it! There was no lifeguard on duty on Friday morning, so it wasn't turned on and he was disappointed.

The rest of the day we ran errands, ate lunch, and took naps. For dinner we met Grandpa & Grandma at our favorite Mexican place, Pablano. Like Chipotle only better!

Baby #2 Update

We had another appointment with the doctor this week. I'm 32 weeks and have been going every-other-week. We've been taking Charles with us which hasn't been too bad. At least most of our waiting has been in the exam room where he's contained. Russell is great about being on "Charles Patrol" which means keeping him entertained and away from drawers, cupboards, trash cans, and items marked "bio hazard." I'm saving any babysitting favors for later on down the road when I get checked every week.

I've been wanting to donate cord blood ever since I was pregnant with Charles, but couldn't find a place that took donations, only banks where you can have it stored for later use. In all honesty, storing cord blood is a total scam. It costs a fortune to register not to mention hefty monthly or yearly fees. All this just in case you might need it. The statistics I've read say there's a slim chance anyone in your family will ever use the blood you've stored. Sure, there's that small percentage that benefit but the rest of the people using the service are wasting both money and a fluid that could help others.

Anyway...I found a place that collects cord blood to use both in research and in transplanting/injecting stem cells to treat people with certain diseases. I was thrilled! It took a combination of phone calls and Internet searches to discover this resource but it's exciting to know we could be helping someone else.

My doctor actually seemed quite pleased that I'd found a place that collects cord blood donations and signed all the necessary paperwork. Now I'm just waiting on a phone call from the hospital to see if they will charge for drawing my blood. Of course no one else has requested this service and what complicates matters is that I will come with all the collection tubes, all they have to do is stick me and collect the blood. It won't even go to their lab for testing. I predict it will take an act of congress to discover if they will charge us for this service. At least I was able to get the name and phone number of someone in the Business Office who seemed helpful. I'll definitely file that away for future use as well!

What did the doctor say? I think I weigh the same as two weeks ago. The nurse never said what my blood pressure was, but usually it's about 90-120/60-70 (I know several people who'd kill for blood pressure that good). The heart beat was 155, which is higher than it has been at other appointments. Usually it's around 150. My headaches and difficulty breathing are all normal and there's nothing shy of having the baby that will relieve those symptoms. She told me she'd see me in two weeks and "good luck breathing!"

Some Impromptu Fun

I was expecting to spend another day at home, hiding from the heat and only driving the car for necessary excursions. But...the day didn't go as planned. Thank goodness, I'm getting cabin fever! Actually I thought we'd be running across town picking up and delivering some Mary Kay, but that didn't happen either so we were free to some impromptu fun.

It all started when I went to the basement to quickly check my email before feeding Casey & Lillie. Of course I just can't stop with email, I've got to check Facebook too. I hate waiting on the Internet to load our home page, MSN before I can navigate to something more interesting, but today it proved to be fruitful. The front story was about "National Donut Day" and how Krispy Kreme was giving away free donuts today. Here's the background on the day's festivities from the Lamar's Website (they have amazing cake donuts...the only donut I'll allow myself to eat when I'm not pregnant and living my healthy Weight Watchers lifestyle):

Did you know National Donut Day is celebrated on the first Friday in June? In 1917, Salvation Army female volunteers known as “lassies” prepared thousands of fresh donuts to the homesick soldiers that served in France during World War I. National Donut Day was officially established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to raise much-needed funds during the Great Depression.

An attempted photo of the both of us. Not very good results, and he wouldn't wear the Krispy Kreme paper hat they gave him.

We shared a chocolate cake donut and a Krispy Kreme with sprinkles. He liked them both and went to pick up the pieces that he dropped on the floor (the chocolate cake one was crumbly)!

After the donuts I decided to head to the Zoo. Charles loves to be outside and it was actually a pretty cool morning. We were at the Zoo by 9am and Charles did a lot of walking thanks to his monkey back pack. Hopefully he'll take a nice long nap. He's been in a climbing phase and while walking decided he needed to stand on all the fences.


We saw some things today that we haven't seen before. Our first stop was the Asian Zoo. We usually overlook it because I don't figure there's much there. But there are goats and peacocks roaming freely and although Charles wasn't sure about the peacock, especially when it started making noise, he had absolutely no fear of the goats.

Then on to the penguins and the prairie exhibit. I decided to let him walk through the prairie exhibit because it's just a raised walkway with no where to run but forwards or backwards. The bears are the first animal and one of the few we saw today. It seemed like quite a few were "off exhibit" or maybe we were too early for them to be out on display. We noticed bears were loosing hair for the summer and saw firsthand why. While we were down in the viewing area one was standing up next to the rocks scratching his back, just like a human would on the frame of a door.


The gorillas were quite active today. Two from the outdoor exhibit were sitting by the window playing with each other and presumably enjoying the shade. They did some non-aggressive wrestling and Charles was quite tickled when I pointed out their feet (he's got a fascination with Dr. Seuss' Foot Book). On our way out of the exhibit one of the gorillas was down by the stream near the exit. He was eating what looked like a cross between doggie treats and biter biscuits. He held them in both hands, eating one at a time. That wasn't as unusual to see as what he did next. He leaned over and drank from the stream. It reminded me of that Old Testament story where the soldiers are weeded out by how they drank from the river. It's amazing how human-like those creatures seem. I noticed it when we were inside and could watch their eyes. Of course I wouldn't want to meet one of them out in the open!


Then we were on to lions...asleep as usual...followed by the hippos. They were both submerged in the water which is the norm, but one came up to us and opened his mouth and "talked" to us. I think he wanted some food. Wow, are those some amazing mouths. No wonder they're one of the most dangerous creatures in the African rivers. They have pointy teeth sticking straight out right at the front then teeth at the back of their mouths and it looks like they go down the throat. Charles was quite amused and it was even better that he was standing up on the cement barrier holding on to the railing. It's the only way he could see. I was holding him and had this fear we'd loose a shoe. Little feet are the only things that will fit through the bars. And maybe a hand or two.



Now for some pictures.

The peacock showing off

Petting the goat

Reaching through the fence to pet another goat. Good thing they're tame!

Climbing on the fence to get a better view of the goats
More climbing...it was just the beginning

After such a long walk, Charles nodded off in the car but we had a few more errands to run. Target to find a birthday present for uncle Brian so Grandpa & Grandma can deliver it this weekend. Followed by a stop at the bank. Much to my pleasant surprise Charles was in good spirits at Target. He emptied the diaper bag of all snacks and just as we were headed to check out did he begin his I'm done routine which involves throwing things out of the cart. Luckily all we had was our present and two bags--my purse and his diaper bag.

I'm the DJ & Fun in the Pool

We've been trying to have the radio/stereo on instead of the television. This is harder for me than anyone else. I actually like to watch the shows on PBS. Of course we watch Sesame Street every day--except Wednesday when the County Commission preempts PBS's entire morning schedule.



The other day I found an 80s CD with the B52-s singing Love Shack. Here's Charles dancing to it:

Sorry there's no audio, you'll just have to sing...

Charles has been enjoying the pool at Mom & Dad's house. We haven't been since the weekend. We were going to go today, but Carissa & Elena wimped out on us. We were very disappointed, but they are predicting storms tonight but I think they may come sooner than what the weather guys are forecasting. It's already quite windy and the sky is full of clouds. So maybe it's better we stayed home.

For some reason Charles loves to have water sprayed directly in his face. He wanted Grandma to spray him with the hose. Instead, we found this plastic cup and he dumped water on his head and face. I guess it's the little things...